Kief gazed up at the West Fire Tower as they approached. Its oil soaked beams were weathered gray with age. The oil helped protect the beams from rot in the heavy rainfall and harsh seasons of the mountains. The tower was constructed when Shaflann Bucken was established thirty years earlier. The first settlers built three of them to help warn the village of forest fires. Kief had climbed to the top of all of them—the views were spectacular. He could even see beyond his own little town to the city of High Valley, far below.

Chapter 1 pg. 4